Can I Help You?
by Alley Ray
Summary: One night at the Green Dragon, Sam decides he's sick and tired of sitting idly by while other hobbits flirt with Rosie. What happened at the end of the movies when Sam approached Rosie and all we saw was the other three hobbits laughing.


Can I Help You?

Merry and Pippin both smirked behind their ale mugs and when Sam wasn't looking, they shared the smirk with Frodo. Frodo didn't smirk. He did smile knowingly.

"Sam," he said, "You can glower all you want, but that Bolger lad won't know you have a problem with him unless you say something."

"Dirty, pig-headed fool," Sam muttered. "Of all the beauties in The Green Dragon he has to cozy up to Rosie Cotton."

"Then do something about it like Frodo says," Pippin said.

"Like what?" Sam snorted before taking a sip of his ale.

"Go over there and say, 'Hullo,'" Merry suggested. "Offer to walk her home later, punch the competition in the nose, use your imagination."

"Aye, we've been back for months and you've barely said a word to her," said Pippin.

"I can't just go up to her like that," Sam argued. "She'd think I was crazy.

Frodo, who'd been staring pensively into his mug, now said, "Sam, you should take advantage of the time you have. You crossed Middle Earth, faced orcs, spiders, even the Nazgul. You helped me sneak into the very heart of Mordor, all in spite of tremendous peril to yourself. And half a year ago you were sure you'd never see Rosie Cotton again. You told me then that if you were ever to marry someone, it would be her. Now you have a chance to spend an entire lifetime with her, and you're wasting it just like you did before the war."

The four hobbits became silent, not because of Frodo's inspired speech, but because of his mention of the war. Sam cast a sad look at Rosie, tending the bar on the other side of the room. Frodo looked up to a group of hobbits preparing to carve an enormous (even by the standards of the big folk) pumpkin. Merry and Pippin both bowed their heads and listened to the other hobbits chattering gaily. They all thought about how peaceful the inn seemed, despite how crowded it was.

"It's as if nothing ever happened," Pippin whispered at last.

"Aye," Frodo replied, "but isn't that why we set out in the first place? To protect the Shire from the evils of the war."

Merry nodded solemnly. Pippin said nothing. Then all three of them looked to Sam. He hadn't said anything in response to Frodo, in fact, the three hobbits doubted that he'd even heard them. He was too busy gazing longingly at Rosie.

Suddenly, Sam took a huge gulp from his mug and rose. Very quietly he whispered, "For the Shire," and walked away. The hobbits were confused by his little call to arms, until they realized he was headed directly for Rosie.

Each held his breath. Sam walked with the same determination that had carried him to Mordor and back, not noticing anyone between him and his destination. He nearly bowled over the Bolger lad, who'd been returning to his table with another half-pint in his hand.

"Watch where you're goin', Gamgee," the cockerel jeered, but Sam didn't seem to hear him. He never stopped. He never looked away from Rosie. Apart from mumbling a quick, "Sorry," he never even acknowledged the other's existence.

With his face set, Sam approached the bar… and stood there. Frodo, Merry, and Pippin squirmed with irritation. Sam was just standing there… waiting.

"What's he waiting for?" Merry hissed.

But Sam didn't have to wait long. Rosie had apparently noticed Sam's approach, because she held up a hand to the person she'd been talking to and came eagerly over to stand in front of Sam.

"Hullo, Sam," she said, drying a mug.

"Hullo," Sam replied quietly, staring at her hands.

There was a long, pregnant silence between the two.

"Can I get you anything, Sam?" Rosie said at last.

Shaken from his thoughts, Sam brought his eyes up to meet Rosie's.

"Yes," he said. Suddenly, Sam took Rosie's face in his hands, leaned over the bar, and planted a long, passionate kiss on her lips.

The inn was suddenly silent, save for the crash of a surprised Rosie dropping her mug. Frodo, Merry, and Pippin each dropped their jaws simultaneously. Every eye turned towards the two hobbits, but neither one noticed.

After dropping the mug, Rosie stood there for a moment, before closing her eyes, taking Sam's face in her hands, and returning his kiss.

When they finally broke apart, Sam kept his forehead pressed against hers and murmured, "I love you, Rosie Cotton."

She smiled, still caressing his cheek and said, "I love you too, Samwise Gamgee."

"Marry me?" he asked.

For the second time in five minutes, Rosie's face was shocked. "What?"

"Rosie," Sam said. "I learned something while I was away. I ain't got forever, like the elves. And if this short life is all I got, there's no one I want to spend it with more than you. So I ask you again. Will you marry me?"

"Aye," she whispered, leaning forward to kiss him again.

Back at the table, Frodo, Merry and Pippen clapped their mugs together and laughed.

"I guess the journey put some courage into the boy after all," Merry said, taking a healthy swig of ale.

"I guess it did," Frodo said.

"D'you think he'll offer us some pointers?" asked Pippin, that old mischievous gleam in his eyes.

He and Merry smirked at one another before smirking at Frodo again. This time, Frodo smirked back.


End file.
